On and on we go...

Today we begin our 19 hour journey into Laos! We have a quick stop in Vinh... as far as I've heard there's not much there, so I think it's just to break up the trip so we're not on a bus for so long. And then we'll be in Vientiane... finally Laos! I'm so excited to get up there... I've only heard amazing things. It's a lot quieter and laid back, which I'm definitely in need of a dose of that. Vietnam is busy and pretty tiring... you always have to be on your toes or else you may get lost in a sea of motos. 

We took a quick trip a few days ago to Halong Bay... it's completely opposite of Hanoi. It's a tiny little beach resort town with hardly any traffic and gorgeous harbors. We watched the sun set over the harbor... there are no words to describe the shade of red that illuminated the sky. It was beautiful! The water was calm, and there were hundreds of little fishing boats all anchored for the night. It was a good break from all the chaos in Hanoi.

Halong Bay is also famous for the incredible cliffs that jet out from the bay. There are probably thousands... they surround you on all sides no matter where you go. It looks like something straight out of Jurassic Park. They are just massive rock formations with a ton of lush greenery covering the tops and the sides. We took a kayaking trip for half a day, where we had the chance to get out and see more of the formations up close. We kayaked through miniscule gaps between giant rocks, and through natural archways carved into the rocks... it was amazing. At one point there was a school of hundreds of tiny fish jumping all around us. I wish you all could have been there, it was breathtaking. 

We eventually had to leave paradise behind and go back to Hanoi. There, we met our new tour leader for Laos, her name is Nok. She's a Thai woman, and she's great! She has "8 rules to be happy"... and her favorite is to "chill... out..." and she loves to remind us of that. She seems like she's really excited to be our tour leader, and also seems like she has a wealth of information to share with us. The group left the meeting with high hopes for a good trip through Laos. Now it's time for me to get ready to get going... somehow it always ends up being a rush, haha. I hope you are enjoying the fall weather... oh, and I've been keeping up with football as best as I can here... GO BEAVS!!